[VIDEO] How to Organize for Your Meetings

Meetings that are unstructured or poorly planned usually end up being a waste of everybody’s time. Here’s how a little organization will ensure that your meetings are well focused and productive.

PLAN AHEAD.

• Productive meetings happen if you plan for their success. Make sure you have a clear objective and a defined agenda. Allow enough time to reach the goal, and schedule the meeting time accordingly. If you want to keep it short, schedule it for late in the day.

• Invite only the people who will contribute to the objective. Meetings of more than six people tend to get less accomplished.

BE PREPARED.

• Make sure that everything will be ready at your meeting. Double check that your equipment, venue, handouts and presentations are lined up well in advance. Rehearse your presentation to smooth out any rough spots.

• If you want participants to be familiar with the material to be covered, send it out ahead of time. Include the agenda, list of participants and the date, time and location of the meeting.

CONTROL AND CAPTURE.

• Begin on time and stick to the agenda. Allow attendees to contribute ideas, but don’t let the meeting get off track. Keep an eye on the clock to make sure the entire agenda gets covered in the time allowed.

• Appoint a person to take notes. Capture all ideas and issues that need further action. Consider recording long meetings with audio or video so that no important information is lost.

• After the meeting, extract the most important points into a concise minutes document. Distribute the minutes to attendees, highlighting action items that require further activity.

Follow these steps and you’ll feel more confident about your presentations and your ability to get the results you want.